The Pope as Antichrist

Chapter 27, “Of the Church,” in the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith of 1742 (Chapter 26 in the 1689 2nd London Confession) says the following in the 4th section:

4. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

[The proof texts given are: Col. 1:18; Matt. 28:18-20; Eph. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 2:2-9.]

The Philadelphia Baptist Confession was once the dominant confession used by Baptists in the United States. It is a revision of the 2nd London Baptist Confession, with two articles/chapters added.

Knowing these Baptist confessions are a revision of the Westminster Confession, it is interesting to notice what is the same and what is different.

Westminster 25.6 There is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God.

The portion about the “Pope of Rome” remains intact, with the exception of not using a capital letter to begin the word “Antichrist.” (Though the capitalization might not be all that significant, since capitalization was more fluid and not as standardized in the 17th century.)

The Baptists also added, “whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,” from 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Various commentators on the confessions have noted that this text is dealing with ecclesiology rather than eschatology. Matthew Winzer represents one Reformed (Westminster) interpretation of the statement:

Propositionally therefore the statement about the antichrist only requires us to affirm (1.) that Christ alone is the head of the church, (2.) that the antichrist falsely assumes that headship, and (3.) the Pope, in falsely assuming that headship, acts as the antichrist. 

The 17th-century English Baptist minister Benjamin Keach identified the Pope of Rome with the horn in Daniel 7:21 that made war with the saints. He further said the prophecies of 1 Thessalonians 2 and 1 Timothy 4 “relate only to the Pope of Rome, and no other.” “If the Pope of Rome be not a man of sin, then Beelzebub is not a devil…he, and only he, is κατ εξοχην, the antichrist, and the very man of sin.” Tropologia, pp. 891-893

Until recently (perhaps to the last 100 years) it was common for Baptist and many Protestant church leaders to teach that whomever the Pope of Rome was at any particular time filled the roll of the antichrist. It seems to be rather uncommon today (probably on the one hand due to the spirit of ecumenism, and on the other hand to rise of dispensational eschatology identifying a singular person as Antichrist; additionally the New Hampshire Confession which superseded the Philadelphia Confession in the United States, does not mention the words pope or antichrist).

Bible verses on Antichrist:

• 1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
• 1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
• 1 John 4:3 and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
• 2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

While the term antichrist seems to be used in a very limited and distinct sense by the apostle John, I think most teachers of salvation by grace through faith alone should be able to agree that the Roman Catholic system, its theology, and its head function in the spirit of antichrist. Hear Charles Spurgeon:

We must speak very hardly and sternly against error, and against sin; but against men we have not a word to say, though it were the Pope himself: I have no enmity in my heart against him as a man, but as anti-Christ...Every time you pass the house of Popery let a curse light upon her head: Thus saith the Lord:—“Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Sermon “War, War, War”).

We know...

We know God, we know the Spirit of God, we know the spirit of truth. 1 John 4:1-6. (Click the link to read the text at King James Bible Online™)

Beloved little children need to hear and heed the message of the beloved apostle. Error is widely dispersed in the world; we need to try all things that are being promoted in the name of God and truth.

Do not believe every spirit, 1 John 4:1.

Rather than believe any and everything we hear pawned off in the name of God and the Bible, we must try the spirits. Do not just foolishly trust; instead, faithfully try. To try the spirits means to test, examine, put on trial – to prove and know what is right and what is wrong.

The spirits may be earthly or ethereal, “though we, or an angel from heaven” (Galatians 1:8), but it matters not. All must be put to the test of truth, to accordingly find the principle that inspires or animates what is preached. “Whether they are of God” indicates that not all are from God (John 8:47). In John’s day and now, many false prophets are in the world. The Old Testament provided the people of Israel ways to test false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-3; 18:19-22) In that same spirit, John will provide us a way.

The fact that “many false prophets are gone out into the world” suggests those departing from the Christian faith to go back to the world (cf. 2 Timothy 4:10). “They went out from us, but they were not of us” (2:19) All false prophets are false, even those who may have previously presented themselves among the saints of God as true.

How shall we try the spirits? By the word of God (Acts 17:11). By measuring and aligning what is said by and with the truth. It is not just applying some feeling, but addressing the facts. As Isaiah said: (Isaiah 8:20) To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

How to know the Spirit of God, 1 John 4:2-3.

John not only commands his readers to try the spirits, but gives a way to try them. When John speaks of knowing the Spirit of God, he particularly addresses the way whereby we know that what is said and taught actually proceeds from the Spirit of God. We know that the Spirit of God testifies of Christ (John 15:26).

Hereby, by the test of the prophet’s confession, one can know whether what is said proceeds from the Spirit of God. “Every spirit that confesseth…every spirit that confesseth not…” One begins by measuring how they “measure” Christ (Matthew 22:41-46). “These spirits set up for prophets, doctors, or dictators in religion, and so they were to be tried by their doctrine” (Matthew Henry). The test is confessional; that is, it concerns what a person confesses, or believes. The test is theological or Christological; that is, it concerns what a person confesses or believes about Jesus Christ. The test is applied both positively and negatively. A false confession arises from that spirit of antichrist, the contrary and supplanting spirit which is in the world and which manifests itself in these false teachers.

What does such a Christological confession imply, and of what does it consist? First, it recognizes and confesses Jesus, the historical child, born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem. Second, it recognizes and confesses that this historical Jesus, and he alone, is the Christ, the Messiah of God. Third, it recognizes and confesses that he is “come in the flesh,” that is, he existed as God before and apart from the flesh, was made flesh and dwelt among us – “and the Word was God” (John 1:1, 14). Or, as John Gill wrote, “The proper deity and sonship of Christ, his true and real humanity, and his Messiahship.”

The ones written to are of God, 1 John 4:4.

John calls upon the ones to whom he is writing to remember they are “of God” – you have God living within you (Colossians 1:27). Because of this you are overcomers (5:4-5; Romans 8:37), you have overcome “them,” the false prophets and that spirit of antichrist. “All that is in the world” is temporal, “is not of the Father” but is animated by the wicked one (2:14-17). God is greater than our heart, the witness of God is greater than the witness of men (3:20; 5:9) – and God in you is greater than he that is in the world (cf. John 6:45).

Such transcendent knowledge as supplied by the apostle comforts, establishes, and encourages (Psalm 124:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). The Lord hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5).

“They” are of the world, 1 John 4:5.

They – false prophets, every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh – are of the world and speak of and to the world. Man by nature knows the things of the world (1 Corinthians 2:11). The world hears and recognizes their own. The world loves its own (John 15:19). Let a prophet speak falsely, and in doing so he speaks recognizably, smoothly, and soothingly to those who are of the world, who are animated by its spirit.

If someone is in a crowd of people speaking foreign languages, they know not what is being said. If suddenly someone speaks a word in their own tongue, they “recognize their own” (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:19). Those who have the Spirit of God recognize the voice of God (John 10:5, 17). Those who have not the Spirit of God recognize the spirit of the world and the spirit of error. It calls to them, as deep calleth unto deep.

The ones writing are of God, 1 John 4:6.

By “we” in context John seems to mean the apostolic witnesses (1 John 1:1-4). They were chosen, called, and sent by God (Luke 6:13; John 20:21). “We are of God.” Certainly, he considers those to whom he is writing to be “of God” (v. 4). However, he is giving a principle of “deep calling unto deep,” so to speak. “Ye of are God” and “We are of God.” Because of this, you recognize the words of truth being spoken. Those who know God listen to the apostolic witness (1 Corinthians 14:37). Those in their natural and unregenerate state do not know God, do not listen to the apostolic witness, and will be carried about with every wind of doctrine (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The spirit of truth consists of a true Christology proceeding from the Spirit of God (John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 5:1). The spirit of error is that which is a false Christology proceeding from the spirit of antichrist, yea even Satan (2 John, v. 7). That which is book-ended between the “hereby” of 3:24 and the “hereby” of 4:6 gives the confessional Christological test to confirm the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. It begins with having the spiritual ability to hear the voice of the Jesus the Shepherd and concludes with the conjoining truth about Jesus the Christ. The Spirit and the word always agree.

We know (concluding thoughts), 1 John 3:24, 4:6.

“And hereby we know… Hereby know we…”

Do you listen to truth or to error? How do you know the difference? If someone is speaking and sharing for and from the Lord, then their words will align with the word of God and agree with the Spirit in us. Search the scriptures, whether the things are so or no (John 5:39; Acts 17:11). Let God be true, but every man a liar.

What do you confess? Do you know the Spirit of God? Do you know God? Do you hear the apostolic witness, spoken by the Spirit through the word? Does the witness of the Spirit witness to your spirit? (Psalm 42:7; Romans 8:16).

What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? (Matthew 22:42). Can you answer with Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God?” Has flesh and blood given you a lie, or has the Father revealed to you the truth? (Matthew 16:15-17.) Do you confess that Jesus Christ come in the flesh is of God, or do you stand with the spirit of antichrist now in the world?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31.